The work of the International Fund for Ireland in fostering cross-community relations has been praised in a report this week by management consultants KPMG.
The report states that the fund, which was set up in 1986, "has had a range of substantial impacts on the communities and economies of Northern Ireland and the Border counties".
Many unionist communities in the North initially boycotted the fund because of its association with the Anglo-Irish Agreement, but there has been evidence of this imbalance being redressed.
The KPMG report says the fund has "made a major contribution to the development of an economic and cross-community dynamic which has had an important role in underpinning the peace process".
Many workers on the ground are sceptical of the success of IFI or the EU's peace and reconciliation fund in improving crosscommunity relations where it is most needed. It is often said that most contact occurs between middle-class people, where it would probably have happened anyway. However, the IFI is credited with frequently providing the "anchor" funding to get many projects off the ground.
Since being set up the fund has contributed almost £314 million to some 3,600 projects. The six Northern Ireland counties get 75 per cent of the funding and the remaining 25 per cent goes to the Republic's six Border counties.